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HENRY P. noose, or UTIGA, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent No. 71,647, dated December 3, 1867.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I

Be it known that I, HENRY P. ROCHE, of the city of Utica, Oneidac ounty, New York, have invented anew and useful Automatic Cloth-Stretching and Rolling-Machine. I

The-nature ofiny invention consists in taking the cloth from the 'bath and drawing it through a series of friction or stretching-bars, thence passing it over one or more peculiarly-formed spreading-rollers, by means of which the cloth may be stretched in the direction of its length, and spread in the direction of its width, to any desired degree, while it is rolled firmly and smoothly on the winding-roll, and thus all inequalities andunevenness of the cloth, and all folds, creases, and wrinkles, whether caused by defective weaving, or in the process of falling and cleaning, are entirely removed without injury to the fabric, and a uniform and smooth surface is presented for the subsequent operations of finishing, the goods; and-I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description-of my said invention, and of the mode of operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings,.making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a. perspective view of the-machine;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the winding-roll.

Figure 3 is a front view of the gearing.

Figure 4, a sectional view of the parts for throwing the winding-roll out of gear.

A is the bath; A is the cold-water pipe; A is the steam pipe; 'B B are the friction or stretching-burs; O is the driving-shaft; C the driving-pulley; G a loose pulley; 0 a spur-gear on G; D, a wheel gearing into 0 E, a spurred gear on the shaft of D; F, a wheel gearing'into E; F, a sleeve on the bearing part of the shaft of F; F, a lever for turning the sleeve F; F a socket for holding'one' end of-F, the winding-roll; F, a slide, having on the inner end F, a revolving socket, for holding the other end of F; G is a carrying roll; H is the second spreading-roller; H is a spiral thread turning to the left; H is a like spiral thread turning to I the right; .H is a double pulley on the outer end of H, I is the first spreading-roller; I is the spiral thread thereon, turning to the left; I is the spiral thread thereon, turning to the right.

The machine requires a stout frame. Near the centre of it, as seen in fig. 1, runs the driving-shaft C. On theend thereof is the driving pulley C and loose pulley O, and on the opposite end is a fast pulley, similar to O, not shown in the drawing. The pulleys C and O are of the usual form and for the usual purposes, and need no further description. On 0 and at the side of O is a spurred gear, O Gearing into this is a wheel, D, on a short shaft, having a bearing in the frame, which short shaft has a spur-gear, E, like G which, in turn, carries a. wheel, F, smaller than D. The winding-roll F is a plain cylinder, with square tenons at each end, as seen in fig.2, which fit in sockets, one on the end of the shaft of F, and theother, F, revolving on the slide F 1, therefore, has the motion of the wheel F. By moving the slide F the roll F* may be inserted or taken out of the machine at pleasure. The shaft of F turns in a sleeve resting in the hearing, which sleeve is made eccentric; that is, the hole in which the shaft of F turns is not in the centre of the sleeve, and the lever F is attached to the thickest side thereof, so that by turning down said lever, the wheel F is thrown out of gear- Directly in front of the winding-roll Fis the carrying-roll G. It is a plain, smooth roll, to carry the cloth evenly on to the winding-roll. In front of the carrying-roll is the second spreading-roll H, and between it and the upper friction-bar B is the first spreading-roll I. These rolls are formed alike. They have a spiral thread Bround'them, running from the centre to the opposite ends, H H and I I. They may be formed of metal, with the threads raised thereon, or they may have a wire wound round them, as seen in fig. 1. These rolls are so arranged that the succeeding one moves faster than the preceding one, by increasing the size or speed. The roll H is driven by a belt from the pulley on the outer end of O, which belt is crossed to give a reversed motion to the roll, and a belt from the pulley H to 1 turns I. The bath A may be awooden box, sufliciently long and large to hold one or more pieces of goods at a time. It has a cold-water pipe, A, extending into it from a com venient water-reservoir, by which water may be let in at pleasure by means of a cock in the pipe It has also alike pipe, A, extending from the boiler, by means of which steam may be let in when desired, and by a plug or cook in the bottom the water may be let out. The bath is at the front end of the machine, as seen in the drawing, fig. 1. Over the bath is a series of stout wooden bars, one above the other, as seen in fig. 1, or there may be two series of bars, and one series may be stationary and the other movable, so as more readily to allow varying of the pressure. The number and closeness of the bars to one another vary with the goods or the strain to be put on the cloth in passing through the machine. I 1

The mode of operation is as follows: The goods to be operated on are placed in the bath, and, if proper, the bath may be filled with cold or hot water by means of the tubes A. A. One end of the cloth is then drawn through between the bars 13 B, so that the alternate bars are on the same side of the cloth. It is then drawn over the spreading-rollers, and the end attached to the winding-roll F and the driving-belt shipped on to C. This drives the winding-roll F through the gearing 0 D, E, andF, and the winding-roll, drawing on the cloth at the same time it is retarded by the friction-bars B B, stretches it in the. direction of. its length. While ir. is being so stretched, the rolls I and H, turning in the direction opposite to that in which the cloth is moving, and constantly presenting their diverging spiral threads, the succeeding rolls moving faster than the preceding ones, are constantly spreading or stretching the cloth in the direction of its width. It is thus stretched in every direction to any desired extent. For woollen goods this machine is used after the cloth has been failed and removed from the rinsers, and when they are steam-finished, they may be put through it after each steaming.

The machine, as described, without the winding-roll, is useful in stretching calicoes, delaines, and the like, in the process of finishing, sizing, or printing. When the cloth has been rolled on the winding-roll, by turning down the lever F the roll F" may be thrown out of gear and the cloth may be rolled off on any other machine, or the roll may be talccn out of the machine by loosening the screw F and the cloth allowed to remain on the roll till put through another process. The number of rolls may be varied for spreading.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the roller F with the supporting-sockets F and F and eccentric sleeve for discou nesting the socket from its driving-mechanism, as and for the purposes described.

2. In combination with the. above, I claim the spreading roller H, constructed and operating as and for the purpose setforth. v

3. The combination of roller F, sockets F and F, and roller H, constructed as described, with frictionbars B B,'substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

4. In combination with the above, I claim the bath A, as and for the purposes set forth.

HENRY P. ROCHE.

Witnesses:

H. D. ALEXANDER, JOHN G. Caocnna. 

